Welcome to Board Gamers Anonymous, the podcast where everyone is welcome at the table.
Hosted by Chris and joined by a rotating cast of passionate gamers, Board Gamers Anonymous brings you lively conversations about the games we love, the games we don't, and everything that keeps us coming back to the table.
Each week, we dig into the biggest questions, debates, trends, and hot takes in tabletop gaming, alongside reviews, previews, recommendations, rankings, and plenty of opinions. From the newest releases and modern classics to the designers, mechanics, and moments that make this hobby great, BGA is about more than what's in the box—it's about the people around the table.
After more than 13 years and nearly 600 episodes, we're still playing, arguing, laughing, and asking the most important question of all: **Whose turn is it?!*
Pull up a chair. You're always welcome at our table.
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Episode 591 – What If?! Tabletop Twists
What if one moment in tabletop gaming history had gone differently?
This week on Board Gamers Anonymous, Chris and Tim are messing with the timeline. In our Voice of the Gamers feature, we ask the tabletop questions that probably shouldn't be asked: What if a landmark game had never been published? What if a major designer had made a completely different choice? What if an influential publisher never existed? What if a convention never took off—or a game that changed the hobby had completely flopped?
Change one decision, remove one game, alter one moment…and suddenly the tabletop hobby we know today might look very different. We're pulling at the loose threads of gaming history to see what unravels, what takes its place, and whether we'd even recognize the hobby on the other side.
Roll for Preview
Chris checks out Bookwyrm: A Cozy Strategy Game of Beautiful Bookshelves, a cozy strategy game where book-hoarding dragons attempt to organize their overflowing collections, building and scoring bookshelves while inevitably being tempted to acquire even more books. Because apparently dragons and board gamers have exactly the same problem.
Tim previews Electrify, the upcoming engine-building game from AEG designed by John D. Clair and Ian Hutchison. Players develop an evolving energy industry across five revolving sectors, upgrading and chaining actions as they attempt to meet an increasingly power-hungry world's demands.
Roll for Review
Chris heads somewhere considerably less cozy with Enemies of Gotham City, a competitive area-control game that puts Batman's famous rogues—not the Caped Crusader—in the spotlight. Joker, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Two-Face, and the rest battle for control of Gotham while Batman and his allies attempt to ruin everyone's perfectly reasonable plans for criminal domination.
Tim reviews Dewan, a fast-playing competitive game of territory, placement, and hand management from designers Johannes Goupy and Yoann Levet. Players lead their tribes across a resource-scarce landscape, establishing camps, gathering resources, and completing story objectives along the way.
So join us as we review what's coming, what's hitting our tables—and then completely rewrite tabletop history.
Because every great game starts with "What if?" This week, we're asking what happens when the answer changes everything.
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
Be sure to connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous, on Bluesky at bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social, and at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
And if you enjoy the show, support Board Gamers Anonymous on Patreon at www.patreon.com/c/bga.
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Board Game Red Flags! - Episode 590
Monday, September 21, 2026 • Duration 01:39:29
Board Game Red Flags: When We Know a Game Isn't for Us
We all have them: those little warning signs that make us look at a board game and immediately start planning our escape from the table.
This week, Chris and Tim break down their biggest board game red flags—the mechanisms, themes, design choices, components, and other telltale signs that can turn “Want to play this?” into a very quick “I’m good.” Maybe it’s a rulebook that looks like it requires continuing education credits. Maybe it’s a game proudly advertising 240 minutes of playtime. Maybe there are 47 different resources, an app requirement, player elimination, roll-and-move, or the dreaded phrase, “It gets really good after your first five plays.”
Of course, one gamer's red flag is another gamer's reason to immediately preorder the deluxe edition. Chris and Tim compare the warning signs that send them running, the ones they're willing to overlook, and those occasions when a game manages to overcome everything they normally hate. How well do we really know our own tastes—and how many great games have we avoided because they checked the wrong box?
Then it's time for Roll for Preview, as Chris and Tim take a look at some games coming to the table.
Chris: Food Chain Magnate: Special Edition takes Splotter's famously unforgiving heavy economic game of hiring employees, marketing burgers and pizza, manipulating demand, and ruthlessly outmaneuvering the competition and gives it the deluxe treatment, with completely redesigned artwork, upgraded components, miniatures, and a new presentation. It's still Food Chain Magnate underneath—just dressed like the CEO finally approved the capital-improvement budget.
Chris also previews Steam & Cheese, Alexander Rein's upcoming expert Euro from Skellig Games, in which steampunk mice operate an increasingly elaborate cheese-making industry. Players use dice as workers, with both their colors and values affecting their actions, while transforming milk into cheese, upgrading machinery, filling orders, and importing spices by zeppelin. Finally, someone had the courage to answer the question: “What if an economic Euro were extremely serious mechanically but populated entirely by mice obsessed with cheese?”
Tim: Catvale: The Board Game with Claws! sends rival cats into a modular, ever-changing world where they explore, gather resources, build, complete quests, and occasionally settle disagreements in the traditional feline manner: conflict. It's a strategic adventure-Euro hybrid built around a variable hex-tile world, dice-driven actions, and more than 100 adventure cards. Basically, cats finally get the sprawling civilization-building experience they always believed they deserved.
Then, in Roll for Review, we find out what Chris and Tim thought after actually getting games to the table.
Chris: Citadels Duel reimagines the classic Citadels specifically for two players. Rather than simply shrinking the original game, designers Guillaume Montiage and Manuel Rozoy rebuild its character powers, deduction, city building, and tactical interference into a dedicated head-to-head experience. Chris finds out whether all that scheming, bluffing, building, and backstabbing works when there's only one other person at the table to blame.
Tim: Nucleum, from Simone Luciani and Dávid Turczi, is a heavyweight Euro set in an alternate-history 19th-century Saxony transformed by nuclear technology. Players develop networks, construct and power buildings, fulfill contracts, unlock asymmetric technologies, and compete to become the dominant industrial force. It's railroads, economics, technology, and uranium—which is either an irresistible Eurogame pitch or several of our red flags from the main topic combined into one box.
Tim also reviews Rauha, a 2–5 player game from Johannes Goupy and Théo Rivière about restoring life to once-sterile worlds. Players draft and place biome cards into their personal grids, create combinations, attract Divine Entities, and carefully position their Avatar to trigger rows and columns of increasingly satisfying effects. It's colorful, peaceful world-building on the surface, with plenty of combo-building decisions underneath.
So pull up a chair—but check the box for warning signs first—and join us as we figure out exactly what makes us say NOPE before the first turn even begins.
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
Be sure to connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous, on Bluesky at bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social, and at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
And if you enjoy the show, support Board Gamers Anonymous on Patreon at www.patreon.com/c/bga.
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Episode 589 - Roll for Initiative…With Strangers!
Monday, September 14, 2026 • Duration 01:42:23
Episode 589 – Roll for Initiative…With Strangers!
This week, Chris is joined by our good friend Chris Rodriguez from Board Games for the Better to tackle something almost every gamer has experienced at some point: the anxiety of sitting down at a table with people you don’t know.
Whether you’re walking into a local game night for the first time, looking for a seat at a convention, or trying to find a new gaming group, playing with strangers can be intimidating. Chris and Chris talk about the challenges of putting yourself out there, finding a group where you feel comfortable, recognizing a welcoming table, and getting past that initial awkwardness so you can actually enjoy the reason you showed up in the first place—the games!
And there are plenty of games to talk about this week.
Roll for Preview
Chris previews Everdell Journeys, a new standalone adventure in the world of Everdell that takes the familiar woodland setting in a new direction, and Drillers, a deck-building and resource-management game about piloting mechs deeper and deeper into an abandoned mine in search of valuable minerals—while making sure you can still get back out.
Chris Rodriguez checks out Legendary: A DC Deck-Building Game, which brings DC's superheroes, villains, Masterminds, and Schemes to Upper Deck's Legendary system, including new elements such as Sidekicks and the Hope and Fear Tracker.
Roll for Review
Chris takes a seat at the infernal poker table with Hell of a Deal, a cooperative, Texas Hold'em-inspired game where players take on cheating bosses from Hell, use some questionable tricks of their own, and ultimately hope to beat the Devil himself.
Chris Rodriguez covers three games: Mountain Goats Legacy, which expands the dice-rolling mountain-climbing game into an evolving, fully resettable legacy experience with new powers, hazards, and challenges; Fairy, a tiny push-your-luck prediction game about guessing whether the next card will be higher, lower, the same suit, or a fairy; and Panda Panda, a quick set-collection card game where you're manipulating your hand, watching your opponents, and trying to be the first to yell “Panda Panda!” with the right combination of cards.
Then, Roll for Initiative…With Strangers! How do you get past the anxiety of joining a table full of people you've never met? How do you find the right group for you? And, for those of us already sitting comfortably at the table, what can we do to make it easier for the next person looking for a friendly seat?
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
Be sure to connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous, on Bluesky at bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social, and at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
And if you enjoy the show, support Board Gamers Anonymous on Patreon at www.patreon.com/c/bga.
Support:
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Episode 588 - BGG Top 100 & BGA 13th Anniversary
Monday, September 7, 2026 • Duration 02:27:54
Episode 588: 13 Years of BGA — Taking on the BGG Top 100
Board Gamers Anonymous is officially 13 years old! To celebrate, Chris is joined by Tim and Game Master Dave, together on the podcast for the very first time, for a special look at the BoardGameGeek Top 100 games.
All three of us are diving into the list and giving our hot takes: the games that deserve their spots, the ones that should be higher, the ones we can't believe are still there, and the sacred cows we're willing to knock down a few pegs. After 13 years of talking board games, we've accumulated plenty of opinions, and we're not keeping them to ourselves.
Most importantly, a huge thank you to all of the friends who have been part of BGA over the years (especially Anthony) and to every listener who has downloaded an episode, shared the show, sent us a message, argued with one of our lists, or kept coming back week after week. And an extra special thank you to our Patreon backers, whose support helps make BGA possible. We couldn't have made it to 13 years without all of you.
Here's to 13 years of Board Gamers Anonymous, and plenty more games, debates, rankings, and questionable opinions still to come!
Support BGA on Patreon and get ad-free episodes and bonus BGA content: https://www.patreon.com/c/bga
Check out the recently updated BGA website:
www.boardgamersanonymous.com
Connect with Board Gamers Anonymous:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social
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Episode 587: 10 Games That Keep You Guessing
Monday, August 31, 2026 • Duration 01:25:59
Episode 587: The Clue Is…10 Games That Keep You Guessing
The clue is…a great game night! Chris and Tim count down 10 games built around giving clues, deciphering hints, and guessing the right words or numbers. Some clues will lead straight to the answer, while others may leave everyone wondering what their teammates were thinking.
In Roll for Preview, Chris checks out DC Deck-Building Game: Green Lantern Corps, while Tim heads Abroad. Then, in Roll for Review, Chris puts the pedal to the prehistoric metal with Dino Racer, and Tim shares his thoughts on Whistle Mountain, Rebirth, and Hoplomachus: Origins.
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social), and our website (www.boardgamersanonymous.com).
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Episode 586: Solitaire Game Commander Dave
Saturday, August 22, 2026 • Duration 01:12:54
Chris is joined by Game Master Dave for an episode packed with previews, reviews, and a dive into the world of solitaire gaming.
Roll for Preview: Chris checks out Reiner Knizia’s Medici Traders, a tile auction game that brings a new spin to the classic Medici system, while Dave digs into Drillers.
Roll for Review: Chris stomps into King of Tokyo: Godzilla, while Dave tackles Lumberjacks with Rocket Launchers, Hot Streak, and Flip 7.
Then it’s time for Solitaire Game Commander Dave! Dave takes command of the table to explore solo gaming, including Agricola, Master of Britain, B-17: Queen of the Skies, and The Hunters: German U-Boats at War, 1939–43. What makes these games work when there’s nobody sitting across the table from you, and what can modern solo games learn from them?
Auctions, drilling, kaiju, lumberjacks, horse racing, card games, and commanding an entire table by yourself- it’s another week of Board Gamers Anonymous!
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social), and our website (www.boardgamersanonymous.com).
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Episode 585 - Gen Con Post-Game Report 2026
Sunday, August 9, 2026 • Duration 01:27:50
Gen Con 2026 Postgame Report!
Gen Con is in the books, and Chris and Tim are breaking down the biggest news, announcements, and games coming out of another record-breaking year in Indianapolis. More than 74,000 gamers showed up and brought rain, leaking roofs, tornado warnings, and plenty of tabletop chaos with them.
We cover the growing presence of massive IPs like Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Star Wars, Stormlight Archive, and Dungeon Crawler Carl before diving into the games that caught our attention, including Entropy, Gruntz, Drillers, Kokeshi, Layers, Three Witches, Thunder Road: Ignition, The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit, and more.
Then it’s Roll for Review, with Tim hitting the table with Moon Colony Bloodbath, Finspan, and more.
The crowds were bigger, the announcements were louder, and somehow the cardboard survived. It’s our Gen Con 2026 Postgame Report!
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social), and our website (www.boardgamersanonymous.com).
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Episode 584 - If You Like The Odyssey, Try...
Saturday, August 1, 2026 • Duration 01:28:31
In anticipation of Christopher Nolan's epic take on The Odyssey, Chris and Tim set sail in search of board games that capture the timeless themes of Homer's legendary journey. From perilous voyages and impossible choices to cunning strategy, loyalty, monsters, and the long road home, discover tabletop adventures that evoke the spirit of one of history's greatest stories.
Plus, in Roll for Preview, Chris digs into Rosalie: A Rosy Game of Gardening, while Tim heads to the wizarding world with Defenders of Hogwarts. Then it's time for Roll for Review as Chris takes a look at the travel-friendly Wingspan Pocket, and Tim shares his thoughts on Oh, My Pigeons! and Dizzle.
Whether you're a fan of mythology, movies, or memorable game nights, this episode is an odyssey worth taking.
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social), and our website (www.boardgamersanonymous.com).
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Episode 583: World Cup of Game Designers (Sweet 16)
Thursday, July 16, 2026 • Duration 01:21:40
The World Cup has come to the tabletop!
In this special tournament episode of Board Gamers Anonymous, Chris and Tim continue their World Cup of Board Game Designers, where the greatest designers from around the globe represent their countries of origin in a head-to-head bracket to determine who deserves the championship trophy. This week, the competition heats up as we enter the Sweet 16, with legendary designers facing off in epic matchups based on their influence, innovation, iconic games, and lasting impact on the hobby.
Will Germany's design powerhouse continue its dominance? Can France, Italy, or the United States pull off an upset? Which countries will survive to advance to the Elite Eight? Grab your bracket and play along as Chris and Tim debate the toughest matchups in board gaming history.
Feature Review:
🏆 The World Cup of Board Game Designers – Sweet 16
Who are you picking to cut down the nets and become the greatest board game designer of all time?
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social), and our website (www.boardgamersanonymous.com).
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Episode 582 – If you like Cascadia, try...
Saturday, July 4, 2026 • Duration 01:17:47
Love Cascadia but looking for your next favorite game?
Chris and Tim explore a collection of board games that share a satisfying blend of thoughtful decision-making, relaxing gameplay, and rewarding puzzle-solving. From tile-laying and spatial planning to completing patterns and balancing multiple scoring objectives, they highlight games that scratch the same itch while offering unique twists.
Roll for Preview
Chris: Kemet: The Gates of Thonis
Tim: 8 Dragons
Roll for Review
Tim: Nippon: Genro and Nippon: Zaibatsu
Chris: Container
Whether you're searching for another nature-inspired puzzler or simply enjoy games that challenge you to optimize every placement, this episode is packed with recommendations for fans of elegant strategy games. Tune in as Chris and Tim break down what makes Cascadia so compelling and reveal the titles that deserve a spot on your table next.
If you haven’t yet, check out the recently updated BGA website at www.boardgamersanonymous.com.
If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/bganonymous.bsky.social), and our website (www.boardgamersanonymous.com).
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